C-Tier Leads Are Not an 'Investment' — They're a Cop-Out

How many times have you heard that stepping into a new gig?

I’ve got the bazooka locked and loaded cuz I’m tired of hearing this bull crap. Companies are guilty of driving a ~85% churn rate in this space and it’s no wonder when we pull trash like this. It’s illogical and I’m going to explain why.

An INVESTMENT is something that COSTS you if it goes sideways. The leads you handed the new guy are the leads you already wrote off. They’re just sitting there doing nothing. They cost you nothing to sit there. They cost you nothing to give away. So what got “protected”?

Nothing was at risk. Your exposure on that trial was ZERO.

A test that costs you nothing also TELLS you nothing.

You’re gating your real calls behind a trial, which is your right. But the trial is supposed to answer ONE question. Can this person handle my actual pipeline?

Your lowest quality leads don’t answer that. Not even a little.

I’d argue the majority of them likely don’t even belong in your pipeline but because so many offers suck at marketing, they paid for the leads and therefore think there’s “gotta be some gold in there.” Oye.

Working a pre-sold, properly sourced and vetted lead, and working a 2 year-old corpse are two different jobs. Being good at one doesn’t predict the other in either direction.

Ok so what, Zach?

SOOOOO what you are trying to do is figure out if this rep can produce WITHOUT paying to find out. If thats how you think, you don’t understand “investments” at all.

Hiring costs money. Always has. Figuring out whether somebody can do the job is a NORMAL business expense, same line item as ads or software.

The dead-lead trial is a sneaky way to BUY that information with a rep’s extremely valuable time. And you’re gonna get exactly what you paid for that free information…Poo.

Do this instead:

Ration the VOLUME instead of the quality. Give him a small stack of real calls instead of a mountain of dead ones.

But then you gotta set up the comparison fairly. You CANNOT grade a new rep against your top guy. That guy has been living inside your offer for months. He knows the buyer, the market, the objections, the lingo, and that fulfillment really delivers. And that’s what we call ORIENTATION, not sales skill. It’s just time on the offer.

Your new rep is learning your buyer WHILE he’s also selling to your buyer. Doesn’t matter how good he is, he can’t skip that part.

So set a REDUCED bar, and set it before he starts. Take what your team closes at and cut it. If your guys are converting 4 out of 10, then a new rep hitting 2 out of 10 in his first couple weeks is nothing to be concerned about. He’s trending in the right direction, THEN the bar climbs as he learns the offer.

Say that number out loud on the hiring call and write it in the agreement. Clear expectations.

If you’re doing it the dumb way I described earlier, I hate to break it to you but you might THINK you’re hiring a closer, but you’re actually hiring someone to stress test your marketing, which is a WHOLE other job entirely. Different job, different conversation, different pay.

Run whatever trial you want. Just don’t call ZERO risk an investment on your part. It’s YOUR company. Investments are YOUR responsibility. Trying to place bets with no chips is exactly how you bamboozle yourself into having to end the night early at the casino cuz you went broke.

If you can’t afford to properly train someone and get them up to speed on your offer, knowing that the ROI of what they do is likely months away….you shouldn’t be hiring.

Speaking of Casinos….Welcome.